A quick google search yielded the a schematic designed by KK6GIP. A good place to start.

A quick dig around in the junk box yielded the necessary components, a piece of recycled project board, an old busted iPhone headset, and the cheap headset that came with the radio. A few minutes later after some wire trimming and soldering – Voila! – an iPhone to BaoFeng audio interface.

I tuned the radio into 144.390 MHz (a common 2m APRS frequency) and transmitted an APRS data burst. This resulted in my coordinates and message being received by K2PUT (a local digipeater) which was forwarded to an internet gateway.

Ok that was fun. What next?

When the International Space Station isn’t using its ham radio for voice, it operates as a FM Packet Radio Digipeater on 145.825 MHz.

So I connected my homemade 2m yagi antenna, tuned to 145.825 and set my digipeater path to ‘VIA ARISS’.

Now all I had to do was wait for the ISS to pass overhead. The ISS completes around 15 orbits a day, so this didn’t take too long.

Using an iPad application called ProSatHD, I was able to determine down to the minute when and where the station would pass overhead.

I wanted to build a custom rugged battery box on a budget for amateur radio communications and emergency charging. The ammo can was found in poor condition at an army surplus and was restored by sanding to remove rust, re-painting, and lubricating the rubber seal. I’m not yet satisfied with the internal fabrication and will continue to improve upon its design later. Future improvements to include: led switch, solar charge controller, improved mounting panel, volt/amp meter.

Many of us tried the old “Two tin cans connected by a string” experiment as kids. [Michael Rainey, AA1TJ] never quite forgot it. Back in 2009, he built “El Silbo”, a ham radio transmitter powered entirely by his voice. El Silbo is a Double Side Band (DSB) transmitter for 75 meters.

Why should I get a HAM radio & license?

How will I communicate with friends/family in a disaster scenario when internet/cellular/landcommunications are disrupted?

Could I be helpful in coordinating and relaying messages related to emergency and disaster relief?

What is HAM radio?

Amateur radio (also called ham radio) is the use of designated radio frequencyspectra for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication.

We hope you weren’t planning to tinker with your Chromecast this weekend. GTVHacker has confirmed that a recent firmware update to Google’s streaming media stick plugs the bootloader exploit that many are using to get root access.